The Black Tubes: “Your next favourite band?”

Brighton band The Black Tubes. Three edgy, young, and trendy punks ready to chant at you about the seaside, fashion, and how to look your best.

The Black Tubes

Rob gives us a history of the band:

” I’ve always been in to 80’s and 70’s music due to my upbringing from my mum. I saw Adam Ant’s comeback in 2012 and that’s when I knew I wanted to front and start my own band. For me it’s completely about the show, image and name of a band, on top of whether or not I like the music, I love to see a show and be entertained.

I first met Mitch at uni and we were both studying guitar, I showed him some of my lyrics I’d been working on and he thought they were good and wanted to hear a song when I got something recorded. In the end it just made sense to have him in the band.

Matt and I had lived together for two years, however, it never dawned on me to have him in the band until recently. We used to have a bassist, he became an estate agent… there’s a song about that in the pipeline.

Since having Matt join myself and Mitch in the last 8 months we’ve been gigging relentlessly, recorded and released two new singles with accompanying music videos, played some festivals (most notably Pride) and are now starting our own regular nights.“

The Black Tubes are an Alternative Punk trio from Brighton, UK. Fronted by the charismatic eyeliner-clad singer Rob Tube, this is a band that you won’t forget. The Black Tubes ethos has been built upon a strong cornerstone of tight jeans, big hair, catchy punk chants, and strictly no love songs (unless it’s about themselves). Mitch and Matt provide the perfect noise for Rob’s edgy and tongue in cheek vocals to effortlessly glide over, think the theatrics of Adam Ant with the sound of The Sex Pistols all tied together with a cheeky glint in the eye, and there you have The Black Tubes. Three edgy, young, and trendy punks ready to entertain and chant at you about such wonders as the seaside, fashion, and how to look your best.

“As a band that spends more time doing our eyeliner than vocal warm-ups, you know we’re on to something”

A Video!

I got a message on Twitter asking me to check out their video – and hell! Am I glad I did!! 5‐Inch Heels and Skinny Pills succeeds the band’s take of ‘Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside’,a song which saw The Black Tubes head to Belfast to record with producer Rocky O’Reilly (Wheatus, General Fiasco). Vocalist, Rob Tube, explains “We spent two nights ﬁlming in one of Brighton’s biggest clubs in the drag scene. As the song is based around the sexualisation and inequality women experience in the workplace and entertainment industries, we thought it suﬃciently satirical to have a drag queen play the female role. After the BBC pay grade news broke, we’ve been working to get this out as soon as possible, for the timing to work out to allow us to work with both Lydia and Sharon was the icing on the cake. We really feel we’ve managed to produce the attack on the senses that this song needed.”

Sharon Needles, incendiary winner of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, has shown her support for Brighton based punk band The Black Tubes with a cameo in their latest video 5 Inch Heels and Skinny Pills. The band’s second video coincided with their biggest show of the summer at Brighton Pride in August 2017.

The Set

It was hot, sweaty and clammy in The Quadrant. The audience set back from the stage as the guys took their positions. Rob firmly planted the mic stand in front of the stage. I think he had made his mind up where he was going to make his stand and no one was going to make him move! The three piece hit the opening chords – hell it was loud! “We Are The Black Tubes (Intro)” was followed up with “Vinyl Revival”. Matt at the back sat behind his kit as he threw his sticks at the drum kit – some damn fine drumming from him – not dropping it for a second as sweat poured down his face. Some great patterns, rolls and fills. No Bass. Mitch on guitars, looked unassuming on the side of the stage, but the all hell broke loose as he hit his guitar. Awesome fret work from this guy, and I mean seriously good. Armed with a pedal board powered by its own electric power generating station he hit us full in the face with everything he could. Chords, lead fills and FX from his pedals provided a blistering back ground to Rob.

Rob Tube

Rob and his vocals seared away at your very soul. His vocals and sharp and the lyrics are sharper, like razor wire. The songs are punchy, on point and packed with satire and humour. Yep, punk at its finest and it sounded great. “5 Inch Heels and Skinny Pills” as Rob explained before launching into the song “For the equality of all genders, specifically females in the entertainment and fashion industry”. This is a damn fine statement and a rocking good tune. Check out the video above! “Confused Students” followed up with “PDA – Public Displays of Affection” as Rob explained “them annoying couples kissing in the park”. Other songs in the set came at us thick and damned fast. The audience sweating in the steam punk heat…

Cheap Date “A true love song about how I make my girlfriend pay for everything”

I’m a Poser “Someone called me a name, I thought I deserved a song”

Culture Clash “English problems abroad”

Seaside “I do like to be beside the seaside!” – Rob marched into the audience, demanding everyone join in with “Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!”, he stood back for a second as the band took over and Mitch jumped out – hammering his guitar and he and Rob moved about the venue as if they owned the joint – well tonight they did!

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“How can the world progress if a woman is judged by her dress. Face on Clothes off.”

Hell! Enjoyed that! A great set from these guys. If you like it loud and fast, these guys are for you. If you like finely tuned songs with lyrics sharper than razor wire, these guys are for you. If you have a sense of humour and enjoy live music and a show, these guys are for you.